The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) intends to sale over 1.76m tons of Urals oil from the Novorossiysk port from May to December 2006. In 2006 SOCAR plans to ship 2.011m tons of Urals oil against 1.631m tons in 2005, the Company told Trend.
From January to February 2006 SOCAR shipped 85,000 tons of oil from the Russian port, while in March the Company sold 85,000 tons to trader Glencore Energy. In April we suppose to sale 80,000 tons of oil from the Novorossiysk port, SOCAR
stressed.
We intend to sale around 85,000 tons of oil from the Novorossiysk port in a month till commission of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The northern route will be fully at our disposal after launching of BTC, SOCAR noted. Commission of BTC is expected in late May or early June.
At present the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) transports the oiul, produced from the Azer-Chirag-Guneshli field, through the pipelines Baku-Supsa and Baku-Novorossiysk, as well as railway till the Batumi port. AIOC supposes to keep oil export only via the Baku-Supsa pipeline after commission of BTC.